The following discussion focuses on events from the time of European settlement. For treatment of earlier history and the country in its regional context, seeWest Indies, history of, and Latin America, history of.

Early period

The island that now includes Haiti and the Dominican Republic was first inhabited about 5000 BCBCE, and farming villages were established about 300 BCBCE. The Arawak Indians and some other indigenous peoples later developed large communities there. The Taino, an Arawak group, became dominant; also notable prominent were the CiboneyIndians. In the 15th century between 100,000 and several million Taino and Ciboney lived on the island, which the Taino called Quisqueya. They based their economies on cassava (manioc) farming, fishing, and interisland trade (gold jewelry, pottery, and other goods).

Italian navigator Christopher Columbus sighted Quisqueya on December Dec. 6, 1492, and named it La Isla Española (“The Spanish Island,” anglicized later Anglicized as Hispaniola). Over the next few decades, the Spanish enslaved vast numbers of Indians Taino and Ciboney to mine for gold. European diseases and brutal working conditions devastated the indigenous population, which fell to about 30,000 by 1514; by the end of the 16th century, the group had virtually vanished. Thousands of slaves imported from other Caribbean islands met the same fate. The Spanish altered the landscape by introducing cattle, pigs, and horses, which multiplied into large herds. Spanish settlement was mostly restricted to the eastern end of the island, and many Spaniards left Hispaniola after the main gold mines were exhausted.

In the mid-16th century, French pirates entrenched themselves firmly on Tortue (Tortuga) Island and other islands off the western end of Hispaniola. Subsequently, both French and British buccaneers held bases there. Permanent settlements began to develop, including plantations. In the 1660s the French founded Port-de-Paix in the northwest, and the French West Indies Corporation took control of the area. Landowners in western Hispaniola imported increasing numbers of African slaves, which totaled about 5,000 in the late 17th century.

French colonial rule

Plantations and slaves

The Treaty of Rijswijk (1697) formally ceded the western third of the island Hispaniola from Spain to France, which renamed it Saint-Domingue. The colony’s population and economic output grew rapidly during the 18th century, and it became France’s most prosperous New World possession, exporting sugar and smaller amounts of coffee, cacao, indigo, and cotton. By the 1780s nearly two-thirds of France’s foreign investments were based on Saint-Domingue, and the number of stopovers by oceangoing vessels sometimes exceeded 700 per year.

The development of plantation agriculture profoundly affected the island’s ecology. African slaves toiled ceaselessly to clear forests for sugar fields, and massive erosion ensued, particularly on the steep marginal slopes that had been allocated to slaves for their subsistence crops. Soil productivity declined markedly in many areas, and formerly bountiful streams dried up; however, European investors and landowners remained unconcerned about or unaware of the long-term consequences of their actions, believing instead that an overpopulation of slaves was the key to wringing more profits from the region.

In 1789 Saint-Domingue had an estimated population of 556,000, including roughly 500,000 African slaves—a hundredfold increase over the previous century—32,000 European colonists, and 24,000 affranchis (free mulattoes or blacks). Haitian society was deeply fragmented by skin colour, class, and gender. The white “white” population comprised grands blancs (elite merchants and landowners, often of royal lineage), petits blancs (overseers, craftsmen, and the like), and blancs menants (labourers and peasants). The affranchis, who were mostly mulattoes, were sometimes slave owners themselves. They aspired to the economic and social levels of the whitesEuropeans, and they feared and spurned the slave majority; however, whites the colonists generally discriminated against them, and the affranchis’ aspirations became a major factor in the colony’s struggle for independence. The slave population, most of which was whom were bosal (African-born), was were an admixture of West African ethnic groups. The vast majority were field-workers; more specialized groups included household servants, boilermen (at the sugar mills), and even slave drivers. Slaves in the colony, like those throughout the Caribbean, endured lengthy, backbreaking workdays and often died from injuries, infections, and tropical diseases. Malnutrition and starvation also were common, because plantation owners failed to plan adequately for food shortages, drought, and natural disasters, and slaves were allowed scarce time to tend their own crops. Some slaves managed to escape into the mountainous interior, where they became known as Maroons and fought guerrilla battles against colonial militia. Large numbers of slaves, Maroons, and affranchis found solace in voodoo (voudou), a syncretic religion incorporating West African belief systems. Others became fervent adherents of Roman Catholicism, and many began to practice both religions.

The Haitian Revolution

The revolution was actually a series of conflicts during the period 1791–1804 that involved shifting alliances of Haitian slaves, affranchis, mulattoes, and whitescolonists, as well as British and French army troops. Several factors precipitated the event, including the affranchis’ frustrations with a racist society, the French Revolution, nationalistic rhetoric expressed during voodoo ceremonies, the continuing brutality of slave owners, and wars between European powers. Vincent Ogé, a mulatto who had lobbied the Parisian assembly for colonial reforms, led an uprising in late 1790 but was captured, tortured, and executed. In May 1791 the French revolutionary government granted citizenship to the wealthier affranchis, but Haiti’s whites European population refused to comply with the law. Within two months isolated fighting broke out between whites Europeans and affranchis, and in August thousands of slaves rose in rebellion. Whites The Europeans attempted to appease the mulattoes in order to quell the slave revolt, and the French assembly granted citizenship to all affranchis in April 1792. The country was torn by rival factions, some of which were supported by Spanish colonists in Santo Domingo (on the eastern side of the island, which later became the Dominican Republic) or by British troops from Jamaica. In 1793 Léger Félicité Sonthonax, who was sent from France to maintain order, offered freedom to slaves who joined his army; he soon abolished slavery altogether, and the following year the French government confirmed his decision. Spain ceded the rest of the island to France in the Treaty of Basel (1795), but war in Europe precluded the actual transfer of possession.

In the late 1790s Toussaint - Louverture, a military leader and former slave, gained control of several areas and earned the initial support of French agents. He gave nominal allegiance to France while pursuing his own political and military designs, which included negotiating with the British, and in May 1801 he had himself named “governor-general for life.” Napoléon Bonaparte (later Napoleon I), wishing to maintain control of the island, attempted to restore the old regime (and white European rule) by sending his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc, with an experienced force from Saint-Domingue that included several exiled mulatto officers. Toussaint struggled for several months against Leclerc’s forces before agreeing to an armistice in May 1802; however, the French broke the agreement and imprisoned him in France. He died on April 7, 1803.

Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe led a black army against the French in 1802, following evidence that Napoleon intended to restore slavery in Saint-Domingue as he had done in other French possessions. They defeated the French commander and a large part of his army, and in November 1803 the viscount de Rochambeau surrendered the remnant of the expedition. The French withdrew from Haiti but maintained a presence in the eastern part of the island until 1809.

Independent Haiti

Trials of a young nation

On January Jan. 1, 1804, the entire island was declared independent under the Arawak-derived name of Haiti. The young nation had a shaky start; the war had laid waste devastated many plantations and towns, and Haiti was plagued with civil unrest, economic uncertainties, and a lack of skilled planners, craftsmen, and administrators. Many European powers and their Caribbean surrogates ostracized Haiti, fearing the spread of slave revolts, whereas reaction in the United States was mixed, as slave-owning states did all they could to suppress news of the rebellion, but merchants in the free states hoped to trade with Haiti rather than with European powers. More important, nearly the entire population was utterly destitute—a legacy of slavery that has continued to have a profound impact on Haitian history.

In October 1804 Dessalines assumed the title of Emperor Jacques I, but in October 1806 he was killed while trying to put down suppress a mulatto revolt, and Henry Christophe took control of the kingdom from his capital in the north. Civil war then broke out between Christophe and Alexandre Sabès Pétion, who was based at Port-au-Prince in the south. As the civil war raged, the Spanish, with British help, restored their rule in Santo Domingo in 1809. Christophe, who declared himself King Henry I in 1811, managed to improve the country’s economy but at the cost of forcing former slaves to return to work on the plantations. He built a spectacular palace (Sans Souci) as well as an imposing fortress (the CitadelLa Citadelle Laferrière) in the hills to the south of the city of Cap-Haïtien, where, with mutinous soldiers almost at his door, he committed suicide in 1820. (Both the palace and fortress were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1982.)

Jean-Pierre Boyer, who had succeeded to the presidency of the mulatto-led south on Pétion’s death in 1818, became president of the entire country after Christophe’s death. In 1822 he invaded and conquered Santo Domingo, which had declared itself independent from Spain the previous year and was then engaged in fighting the Spaniards. Boyer abolished did abolish slavery there, but the Haitians monopolized government power and confiscated church property; it , foodstuffs, and other supplies. It was not until 1844 that the Haitians were expelled by a popular uprising. The occupation created a tradition of distrust between the two nations, and subsequent generations of Dominicans regarded the period as a backward eracruel and barbarous.

France recognized Haitian independence in 1825, in return for a large indemnity (nearly 100 million francs) that was to be paid at an annual rate until 1887. Britain recognized the state in 1833, followed by the United States in 1862, after the secession of the Southern slave states.

Boyer was overthrown in 1843. Between then and 1915 a succession of 20 rulers followed, 16 of whom were overthrown by revolution or were assassinated. Faustin-Élie Soulouque (Faustin I) became president in 1847 and designated himself “emperor for life” in 1849. He turned on his mulatto sponsors and became particularly repressive; however, his regime was in some ways a return to power for the blacks. He tried unsuccessfully to annex the Dominican Republic, and in 1859 one of his generals, Fabre Geffrard, overthrew him. Geffrard encouraged educated mulattoes to join his government and established Haitian respectability abroad.

Throughout the 19th century a huge gulf developed between the small urban elite, who were mostly light-skinned and French-speaking, and the vast majority of black, Creole-speaking peasants. Social services and communication communications were almost nonexistent in the countryside, while Port-au-Prince was the centre of culture, business, and political intrigue.

In the 1890s the United States attempted to gain additional military and commercial privileges in Haiti. In 1905 it took control of Haiti’s customs operations, and, prior to World War I, American business interests gained a secure financial foothold and valuable concessions.

U.S. occupation

From 1915 to 1934 Haiti was occupied by U.S. Marines. The United States claimed that its action was justified under the Monroe Doctrine (the right of the United States to prevent European intervention in the Western Hemisphere) as well as on humanitarian grounds. However, many Haitians believed that the Marines had really been sent to protect U.S. investments and to establish a base to protect the approaches to the Panama Canal. Haiti signed a treaty with the United States—originally for 10 years but later extended—establishing U.S. financial and political domination. In 1918, in an election supervised by the Marines, a new constitution was introduced that permitted foreigners to own land in Haiti.

One effect of the Marine occupation was the nominal reestablishment of the mulatto elite’s control of the government. Black Haitians, in contrast, felt that they were excluded from public office and subjected to racist indignities at the hands of the Marines, including the corvée , an old law permitting (statute of forced labour for road constructionpublic works); in response, peasant cacos (guerrillas) carried out a series of attacks. The Marines’ public works program also included building new health clinics and sewerage systems, but most Haitians felt that the effort Marines’ efforts were inadequate.

In October 1930 Haitians chose a national assembly for the first time since 1918. It in turn elected as president Sténio Joseph Vincent. In August 1934 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew the Marines; however, the United States maintained direct fiscal control until 1941 and indirect control over Haiti until 1947. In 1935 a plebiscite extended Vincent’s term to 1941 and amended the constitution so that future presidents would be elected by popular vote.

Military regimes and the Duvaliers

In October 1937 troops and police from the Dominican Republic massacred thousands of Haitian labourers living near the border. The Dominican government agreed to compensate the slain workers’ relatives the following year, but only part of the promised amount was actually paid. The enmity between the two countries had long historical roots and racist underpinnings: Dominicans, with their Spanish culture and largely European ancestry, looked disdainfully upon black Haitian labourers; however, the Dominican economy depended on cheap Haitian labour.

In 1946 Haitian workers and students held strikes and violent demonstrations in opposition to the president, Élie Lescot, who had succeeded Vincent in 1941. Three military officers seized power, and under their supervision Dumarsais Estimé was elected president. In 1950, after Estimé sought to extend his term, the military took control. In October Colonel Paul E. Magloire was elected president in a plebiscite.

Magloire was forced to resign in 1956, and considerable unrest and several provisional presidents followed . until François Duvalier (called “Papa Doc”)—a physician with an interest in voodoo—was elected president in September 1957. He Duvalier promised to end domination by the mulatto elite and to extend political and economic power to the black masses. Violence continued, however, and , after there was an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Duvalier in July 1958. In response, he Duvalier organized a paramilitary group—the so-called Tontons Macoutes (“Bogeymen”)—to terrorize the population. In 1964 Duvalier, by then firmly in control, had himself elected president for life. Haiti under Duvalier was, in effect, a police state.

During Duvalier’s time in power, Haiti experienced increasing international isolation, renewed friction with the Dominican Republic, and a marked exodus of Haitian professionals. The regime was characterized by corruption and human rights abuses, but a personality cult developed around Duvalier himself, and some sectors of society strongly supported him, including a small upwardly mobile black middle class.

Near the end of his life, Duvalier faced a contracting economy, withdrawal of most U.S. aid, and a decline in tourism; in response he relaxed some of the severe repression and terror that had characterized his early regime. Before his death in 1971, he designated his son, Jean-Claude, aged 19 and nicknamed “Baby Doc” by the foreign media, to succeed him as president for life. The regime of Jean-Claude Duvalier sought international respectability. Repression diminished, and tourism, U.S. aid, and the economy revived somewhat. Opponents, however, saw little change in the regime’s basic nature.

By the mid-1980s the ranks of the Tontons Macoutes had swelled to some 15,000 men, but they failed to silence a series of nationwide countrywide demonstrations against high unemployment, poor living conditions, and the lack of political freedom. In February 1986 Duvalier fled Haiti, with U.S. assistance, for France.

Two Meanwhile, two public health scares adversely affected Haiti in the 1980s. First, U.S. agricultural authorities oversaw the mass eradication of Haiti’s pig population in response to an outbreak of swine fever. The extermination caused widespread hardship among the peasant population, many of whom had bred pigs as an investment. This coincided with reports that AIDS was becoming a major problem in Haiti. As a result of these health concerns and ongoing political unrest, the nation’s country’s tourism industry virtually collapsed.

Democratic aspirations

After Duvalier’s departure, a five-member civilian-military council led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy took charge, promising free elections and democratic reforms. The first attempt at elections, in November 1987, ended when some three dozen voters were killed. In January 1988 Leslie Manigat won elections that were widely considered fraudulent, and Namphy overthrew him in June. A few months later Lieutenant General Prosper Avril took power, but his unstable regime ended in March 1990.

On December Dec. 16, 1990, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a leftist Roman Catholic priest, won the presidency by a landslide in what were widely reported to be the first free elections in Haiti’s history. Legislative elections in January 1991 gave Aristide supporters a plurality in Haiti’s parliament. However, Aristide’s reformist policies alienated the wealthy elite, and, after he had been in office less than eight months, Brigadier General Raoul Cédras deposed him and began to repress political opposition. The United States and other nations imposed a trade embargo, but it was partly circumvented by smuggling through the Dominican Republic. Tens of thousands of Haitians attempted to flee their country in small boats bound for the U.S. state of Florida, but the vast majority were returned to Haiti.

In September 1994 the de facto government agreed to step down and allow some 20,000 U.S. troops to occupy the country. Aristide returned the following month, whereas Cédras and other coup leaders went into exile. Aristide dismantled the Haitian military—an act that would have been impossible without the presence of the U.S. military—and, under pressure from the United States and other nations, pressed for free-market reforms. Haiti benefited economically from a large influx of international aid and loans, but many of its farmers (the largest component of its workforce) struggled to compete with cheaper imported foodstuffs. The United States and United Nations began forming a new Haitian police force, but the bulk of U.S. forces were soon withdrawn. The Haitian police were thrust into their duties with inadequate preparation and were soon criticized for high incidences of corruption and unwarranted violence.

Elections in 1995 brought about the first peaceful transfer of power between elected presidents in Haiti’s history when René Préval, an associate of Aristide, was chosen to succeed him. Préval, faced with political infighting among the groups that had supported Aristide, dissolved the parliament in 1999. The following year, in allegedly fraudulent elections, Préval’s supporters took control of the legislature, and Aristide again claimed the presidency.

Haiti in the 21st century

Aristide faced serious economic and political problems on his return to power in 2001. International aid sanctions, imposed after the 2000 elections, helped fuel a downward economic spiral that further impoverished an already desperate population. Instances of disease (including HIV/AIDS) rose sharply, as did levels of lawlessness and violence. Open opposition to Aristide’s rule broke out in 2003. The bicentennial observance of Haiti’s independence, on January Jan. 1, 2004, was muted and was marked by street demonstrations; by late February Aristide had fled the country in the face of a rebel insurgency and the loss of U.S. and French support. Aristide’s departure left a polarized country, and conflicts between his supporters and his rivals escalated, leading to hundreds of deaths and international accusations of human rights abuses. Concurrently, U.S.-led armed forces under the authority of the United Nations Security Council were sent to Port-au-Prince to stabilize the situation and to oversee the installation of an interim government. (UN peacekeeping forces remained in Haiti through October 2008.) Assistance from abroad slowed, and Haiti’s main source of income came from remittances from Haitians overseas.

The interim government planned to hold presidential elections by the end of 2005 and had registered about three-fourths of eligible voters. But crime, kidnappings, and gang activity delayed the election process. On Feb. 7, 2006, 63 percent of Haitian voters went to the polls, and Préval claimed the presidency, earning 51 percent of the vote with the overwhelming support of Haiti’s poor. A sense of optimism prevailed throughout that year, but increasing food and fuel prices during his term led to protests. Moreover, government instability—the parliament rejected Préval’s nominations for prime minister several times—impeded social progress.

Two massive hurricanes and other tropical storms ravaged the country from August to September 2008, killing about 800 Haitians and displacing hundreds of thousands. Flooding destroyed crops, and the country had to rely on international relief efforts. Months later, Haiti continued to struggle to rebuild itself.